


The Subway

by Yeah_Im_A_Streetlight



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: F/M, Fluffy Ending, Hamliza, meeting on the subway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 03:38:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12123726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeah_Im_A_Streetlight/pseuds/Yeah_Im_A_Streetlight
Summary: “Wait. You don’t have a card?”“You don’t have to-,”“Take the card.”“You know it’s illegal, right?”---Or, Alex and Eliza meet on the subway.





	The Subway

Eliza hurried down the subway steps, swiping at her eyes. Do not break down, Eliza, she told herself- pull yourself together. You are not going to burst into tears on the subway.

But how am I supposed to hold myself together? She reminds herself. A month out of college, and already her boyfriend- make that ex- was finding better ways to occupy his time- like going on a few dates with the girl at his work and telling Eliza that he was done, that there was someone else now, that he was sorry it wasn’t working out.  
She had never thought this was a step along the way.

She knew how their relationship was supposed to go. Finish college, stay together, get married, have a bunch of kids. She would have been a mother, and a wife, maybe with a small job on the side. They would move out of the city when the oldest kid finished preschool.

Predictable.

Not that she particularly wanted that life. It just was. That was what was expected of her, what he expected, what her parents expected… what happened to everyone like her.

She’d grown to accept it, embrace it, even.  
Now… this. 

She hadn’t really thought when she left the apartment. She was in a haze, a haze of both denial and freedom.

She had some idea of where she was headed- work, her office, but she didn’t quite know where she was. Or where she was going. 

She cursed as she realized that her bag with her money and all her things was right where she left it- her couch.

Perfect.

The voiceover crackled, and Eliza strained to hear it, but as usual, the woman sounded like she was trying to communicate with the passengers from underwater. He had liked to say the underworld, and joked- No. No, don’t think about him.

She cursed again, realizing that her MetroCard was in her wallet, in her bag. She was already ten minutes late, and she couldn’t buy a new card, because, again- her wallet was in her bag. She’d always hated going under the turnstile, so she scrounged through her pockets in vain for three dollars- nothing.

She had time to spare.

A man a few turnstiles down seemed to be having trouble. He brushed hair out of his eyes and swiped a MetroCard again, swearing as the message came back- Please Swipe Again. How was he supposed to just have the leisurely time to “swipe again”? He had places to be! Jobs to do! He wasn’t about to be late to work on his first week!

He noticed a woman staring at his struggle, shot her a pained smile. He saw that her eyes were red rimmed, but didn’t question it- in this city, you never could tell what was happening in people’s heads. She walked to his turnstile and smiled as the message sprang up again- Please Swipe Again. He almost screamed.

“New to the city?” She asked. He jumped- how had she known? She gave him a knowing smile.

“Everyone has trouble with it at the beginning. Took me six months. I’m from Albany,” she explained.

“Oh… I’m from Nevis… it’s in the-,”

“Caribbean, right?” She smiled again. She had a nice smile, he noticed shyly.

“Oh… yeah, it is,” He smiled back.

“Here, want me to swipe that for you?” She asked; it wasn’t really a question, he noticed, because she swiped his card and he quickly slid through the bar- he had learned the hard way that these things could be temperamental if you took too long. He didn’t move, though, despite the fact that his train was being called.

“What about you?” A simple question, he cringed. He never froze up, what was coming over him.

“Oh… I don’t have my wallet. Left it at… at my- boyfriend’s place.”

So she had a boyfriend, he should have guessed. It wasn’t like he’d never been with anyone- John Laurens, for example, before John’s father had found out. And before John suddenly disappeared. Before he’d died.

He never realized the full potential of a bike crash until that day.

“Ex. Actually. He was… he was cheating. I just found out this morning,” she muttered.

The red eyes.

“Sorry,” he said, honestly looking genuine.

“Oh… that’s okay, just… memories, you know?”

He knew.

“Wait. You don’t have a card?”

“No, but don’t-,”

He passed his back without a second’s hesitation.

“You don’t have to-,”

“Take the card.”

“You know it’s illegal, right?” She asked while swiping the card and gratefully handing it back.

“Pshh. I’ve seen worse.”

“Where are you headed?” She asked politely.

“Work. I’m ten minutes late.”

“Twenty.”

“Where’s work?”

“Forty fifth. I get out in Times Square.”

He whistled.

“Yeah, it’s awful. I take the one. You?”

“Why go to work now?”

“Fair point.”

The one train pulled up and she boarded, he entered behind her.

“So where’s work for you?”

“I’m headed in the general direction here.”  
“Mm?”

“Okay, fine. Well, at least I don’t work in Queens or something.” He scoffed.

“True.”

“Are you even going to work?"

“I’m headed in the general direction here.”

“Smart.”

“Ha.”

They sat down in seats right next to each other without a thought. 

Well, that’s what they both wanted to believe.  
They were overthinking it, really, but trying to pretend they weren’t thinking. 

“I didn’t catch your name,” she said questioningly.

“Oh! Alex Hamilton.”  
“Eliza Schuyler. Pleasure to meet you,” she gave him a mock handshake and he snorted.

“You know what? Screw work.” Eliza crinkled her nose adorably. 

“Agreed.”

“Usually I’d go to my sister’s place, but, ya know…” she looked at him, “circumstances."

He blushed, while inwardly screaming. Stop blushing! You never blush, why are you blushing?!

“Screw my work.” Alex replied.

“You could just tell me where it is…”

“Why do you care?”

“Because I want to take you.”

“And you think I’m going?”

“You’re not? What happened to the rush?”

“So I’m late. So my boss gets a bad impression. Why should I care?” Alex opened his messenger bag and pulled out a croissant, breaking it in half and offering half to Eliza, who gratefully took it.

“My sister Angelica,” Eliza started casually, “wants to be a journalist, but she can’t get hired. Her day job is at this coffee shop. Cute little place on fiftieth.”

“First of all, are you asking me out? Second of all, she can’t get hired? I can fix that.” Alex replied with confidence.

“First of all, yes, I am asking you out, second of all, great, tell that to her face. She won't accept charity.”

“But it’d help her?” She nodded. “Watch me,” he said confidently, and she laughed softly. Clearly, Alex had never met someone like Angelica.  
The two got off as the voiceover announced a very garbled, “Times Square, 42nd Street.” 

“Those voiceover people soundike the parents in Charlie Brown,” Alex scoffed. Eliza remembered watching Charlie Brown holiday specials with her sisters- Peggy always used to imitate the parents- all gibberish, Peggy used to be delighted to announce. Eliza laughed. Then she laughed again. Then she laughed harder, until she was leaning on the subway mosaic, gasping for air. She was laughing at Alex’s joke, sure. 

But she was also laughing because the tension of him,of everything, was gone.

And also because Charlie Brown was much less morbid than the underworld.

She laughed again.

“Your girlfriend okay?” An older man asked Alex, who hesitated at addressing Eliza as his girlfriend. Though, this was a date, right? He puzzled this as Eliza answered.

“Yes, I'm fine. Come on, Alex, it's just a few blocks up.”

The pair burst through the bubble of Times Square onto a small street with a red awninged coffee shop. Alex and Eliza stepped inside and ordered, barely taking their eyes off each other. When the bill came, Alex paid. Eliza couldn't help making little competitions in her head- Alex versus him. Best hair. Sweetest. Funniest. Kindest. Alex won every time. 

As Alex took her hand outside her building and kissed her, she thought suddenly that there was no one she’d rather be with.


End file.
